| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| tahir |
ChestnutsWe should have our first crop this year, not been trouble free though. We've lost at least 50 (very expensive) trees to phytopthera, some varieties are way more susceptible than others. If anyone wants to plant some then let me know and I'll look up the problem ones. In our case it wasn't just the trees, they had a succession of issues:1. Drought in the summer following planting 2. Overapplication of mulch in the 2nd year (some trees had over 12" of mulch) 3. Very wet summer in the 2nd year. |
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| Blue Peter |
Re: Chestnuts
I'd be interested to know which ones were problematic, Peter. |
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| yummersetter |
Mine aren't good, overpollinated I reckon, 4-6 small nuts in each wotsit. Haven't found any with one large nut. | ||
| sean |
We should go and have a look at our trees on The Commons. | ||
| tahir |
Don't think that's overpollination, it's usually variety that determines (roughly) how many nuts you get per fruit. Is it usually better? | ||
| yummersetter |
Sometimes
Mind you, it could be that the squirrels have the good ones and throw the rubbish down to me. The reason I was thinking overpollination was because there were thousand of bees and flies on the flowers back then. It's a handy meal as the beehouse is beneath one of the two trees. Even if they're not a good variety ( bought at an auction, unnamed, as a why-not? purchase after we'd lost on our bid for 10 cherry trees) they've grown to forty foot so they're staying till we need timber or fuel. |
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| tahir |
Chestnut trees are fab, so I wouldn't chop it down unless you need to. | ||
| yummersetter |
yep - even if they don't feed us, they're providing loads for various rodents and insects. And they're on the northern boundary so are giving some shelter from cold winds for my trees and shade for the horses in the field behind. | ||
| Mutton |
Are we talking horse chestnut or sweet chestnut? | ||
| sean |
Sweet. | ||
| Mutton |
We're thinking of planting sweet chestnut, so would be interested to know about which varieties were less susceptible. | ||
| tahir |
The bad ones:
Marron de Redonne Marron Comballe Marridone Marron de Goujounac Best (in terms of not dying): Marigoule |
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| Ian33568 |
Chestnuts grow like weeds around here as do walnuts and hazlenuts - we always wait for the early October winds before collecting - some trees are great whilst others produce little or no fruit. You make a mental map of where the better trees are and go back each year - collect somewhere around 40kg of walnuts, 20kg hazel and 20kg of chestnuts - saying that, it doesn't look like a particularly good year this time. | ||
| Nick |
We have a wild, large chestnut tree by use, loaded to the brim with fruit this year. How do I tell if they're edible, and ready to harvest? | ||
| tahir |
the hedgehog reveals it's innards | ||
| Nick |
? | ||
| tahir |
the spiky outer "fruit" opens showing you the nut inside. | ||
| Nick |
And they're all edible? | ||
| tahir |
As long as they're not horse chestnuts (conkers) | ||
| Jamanda |
They fall when they are ripe, then you need a pair of boots to stomp on them to break the husk and gardening gloves to get the spiky bits off. And you have to race the squiggles to them. |
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| sean |
Hmmph, there are loads on the trees but the ones that have fallen or are starting to split so far have such tiny nuts in that they're not worth the bother. | ||
| Millymollymandy |
Where I collect from there is usually one big nut and several small ones which aren't worth bothering with within the spiky outer. I have one tree in my own garden but although it is pretty tall the fruit are all tiny so I don't know whether it will ever be mature enough in my lifetime!  Still from the place I collect there's enough there to feed the whole hamlet and most of the nuts fall on the road and get crushed by vehicles! I'd love to collect more but there's a limit to how many hours I can (bear to) spend peeling the damn things.
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| Jamanda |
Picked up about 1/2 lb of reasonable sized ones today - the squiggles had already been busy 
But I've just put some on top of the wood burner to roast 
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| Pilsbury |
walked down my sister in laws road last week and in the middle of town there is a bit of green, it was just passed dusk so hard to see but the ground was absolutly covered in sweet chestnuts, in the middle of south ockendon, with people just walking past.
Unfortunatly since then I have been working everyday but im going to head down there Monday and see how many i can collect. |
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| vanessa |
Wear washing-up gloves when gathering chestnuts. An old French lady's tip! Sensitive enough to feel what you're doing (you drop a lot less than with gardening gloves), but spine-proof! Surprising but true, I never got a spine in my fingers whilst wearing washing-up gloves to gather chestnuts, and I gathered several tonnes from our trees in France over the years we were there. | ||
| yummersetter |
I did have good large single chestnuts on my trees - came across loads of them buried ( in their green cases) among the sweet corn roots when we cut it down. Now where did the squirrels put the rest of them? | ||
| gardening-girl |
Yay! Have just done a different walk with the dogs, and have picked up LOADS of sweet chestnuts.How can I keep them for ******mas?
I usually make chestnut stuffing and freeze it, what else can I do with them? Don,t have a fire to roast them 
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| tahir |
Boil, peel, freeze | ||
| Green Rosie |
Walking the dogs today on a different route I found enough large ones to fill my large coat pocket. Small boy then came in from a school walk with even more. Somewhere I have a recipe for chestnut and bacon soup which is delish. | ||
| gardening-girl |
Recipe please! | ||
| Ginkotree |
Chestnut and sausage rollAll the local chestnuts are really small this year and the tree on the farm seems to only bear the small nuts..Ive visited it for all these years and only ever had a couple worth picking off the ground. \i love them and would love to be able to pick them as I did as a child, ,bags full..happy memories of autumn glory, roasted chestnuts such a treat of the season...and a bag of hot chestnuts bought while Xmas shopping in London...I remember the mans call as he would entice you to buy,the smell wafting down the street.welcome warm hands.Favorite recipie. Roll Puff pastry into large oblong, place on greeseproof paper on flat baking tray. Layer of sausage meat(vegetarian falafel or meat substitute) layer of herby stuffing. layer of fried veg,mushrooms courgettes garlic onions and Chestnuts lift sides of pastry over the layers, seal pastry all round including ends, with beaten egg as glue and brush the big "sausage roll" all over so a golden glaze is achieved.cut slits on the top. gas mark 6/7(MY COOKER SEEMS TO BURN COLDER SOMETIMES)but hot for about 20minutes till pastry risen and then turn the heat down to mark 4 to gently cook for a total of about 45 minutes. Delicious hot or cold.Yummy with crisp salads and new pots. |
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| Jenna |
Don't think I'd have any chance of getting sweet chestnuts to grow up here, which is a real shame as the wood would be useful, never mind the nuts! On the plus side though, I really can't stand the smell of the flowers 
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| Erikht |
I have just found out that several Chestnut trees grow in Bergen (which is only 60 degrees north), some as far north as Kristiansund (which is 63 degrees north), so when I finally get a place, I will buy some and plant. If the micro climate is right. | ||
| Erikht |
So if I can grow them here, you sissy southerners should have a fair chance of growing them as well. |
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| sean |
Do they fruit though? You can get stuff to grow in places where you'll never get a crop from it. | ||
| Erikht |
I will check this week. I was told were to find a couple of trees in a park. |
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| Erikht |
They do fruit, though the nuts are a bit small. The two trees is not placed in a 100% top position, and I know that they have received no mulching or manure or anything resembling proper attention for chestnuts for years. Can the nuts be made larger by proper attention and maybe a slightly better spot for the trees? I will post pictures later. |
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| tahir |
Yes. |
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| Erikht |
Here is a picture, showing the size of the nuts. The nuts to the right comes from a tree that is growing under slightly better conditions than the first one. None of the trees has been cut in any way, nor has they been mulched or anything. They are growing approx 300 meters apart, and as far as I know they are the only chestnut trees in the area. If conditions were slightly better, and the trees were taken properly care of, could we produce chestnuts of a decent eating size at 60 degrees north?
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| vegplot |
That's not a bad size, about the same as we get here. | ||
| tahir |
I'm surprised you're getting nuts at all, but seeing as you are:
Pruning - not an issue with most nuts Frost damage - chestnuts are fairly late to leaf and later still to flower, so should be OK Pollination - chestnuts really need cross pollination, they are pollinated by wind and bees so if the weather's really wet or windy at pollination time you're in trouble Water availability - the ultimate size of the nut is going to be governed by this, should be no hassles for you. Sun - they ideally like a good sunny autumn to ripen properly Mulching any tree is going to be useful, just don't overmulch (especially near the trunk) as they're very susceptible to phytopthera. |
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| mihto |
Which of the phytopthera would be the problem in chesnuts? | ||
| tahir |
They call it ink disease and there are a few different species that cause it, this is a useful link: www.wsl.ch/publikationen/pdf/4859.pdf |
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| mihto |
The link does not work 
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| tahir |
Hmm, does for me. This is the relevant bit:
Phytophthora cambivora and P. cinnamomi are the two species most commonly associated with the disease in Europe (Table 1) and considered the most pathogenic to C. sativa. These species are able to kill adult trees in one to three years. P. cactorum and P. citricola have been recently isolated from soils in chestnut stands affected by ink disease. (BIOCCA et al. 1993, VETTRAINO et al. 2001) Pathogenicity tests through soil infestation on one-year-old C. sativa seedlings ranked P. cinnamomi and P. cambivora as the most aggressive species, followed by P. citricola and P. cactorum (Vannini data unpublished, VETTRAINO et al. 2001). Other Phytophthora species have been occasionally isolated from soil and baits and include P. gonapodyides (VETTRAINO et al. 2001), P. syringae and P. cryptogea (Vannini, data unpublished). However their role in ink disease is still unclear. The relative occurrence of the two most pathogenic species varies according to country. In France, P. cinnamomi is the most prevalent species in orchards, natural stands and nurseries, although P. cambivora has also been frequently isolated (MOREL et al. 2001). In Portugal, P. cinnamomi has also been the species most frequently isolated, wheras P. cambivora has only occasionally been found (MARTINS et al. 1999). In Italy, P. cambivora is the most prevalent species in orchards and natural stands (VETTRAINO et al. 2001, VANNINI and VETTRAINO 2001). P. cinnamomi was responsible for tree mortality in a coppice in the Southern Latium region (CRISTINZIO 1986) but no other records of this species in natural stands and orchards are currently available. P. cinnamomi is, however, present in nurseries in several areas of Italy (TURCHETTI and PARRINI 1993, PARRINI et al. 1997). Table 1. Records of ink disease on Castanea sativa and the most frequently associated Phytophthora species in Europe based on the information supplied by COST G4 participants. Country Ink disease Main Phytophthora species associated with ink disease Date of first record Present Absent Unknown Italy 1917 + P. cambivora, P. citricola, P. cactorum, P. cinnamomi France 1924 + P. cinnamomi, P. cambivora, P. citricola, P. cactorum Spain 1726 + P. cinnamomi, P. cambivora Portugal 1838 + P. cinnamomi, P. cambivora, P. cactorum Greece unknown + P. cambivora Switzerland 1940 + P. cambivora, P. cinnamomi United Kingdom 1938 + P. cambivora, P. cinnamomi Turkey 1925 + P. cambivora Hungary unknown + No information Slovakia 1974 + P. cambivora, P. cinnamomi Romania 1985 + P. cambivora , P. cinnamomi Macedonian unknown + No information Azerbaijan unknown + No information Bosnia-Herzegovina + No information Croatia + No information Germany + No information Austria + No information |
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| Erikht |
Best chestnuts I ever had. Small, but with a very consetrated taste. If we could get the nuts just a bit larger, this would defenitely be worth it. What kind of possible size gain are we talikng about, Tahir?
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| tahir |
Hard to say, I've never really gathered wild nuts and am a very inexperienced grower. | ||
| Erikht |
Even so, I would say that today's sojourn has put Norwegian chestnuts in the realm on the possible. And this post, started by you, is what inspired me at long last to do some research. | ||
| tahir |
Excellent 
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